The Clairvoyant of Calle Ocho by Anjanette Delgado

two.”
    â€œYou know me, born strange. See you all later. Bye, Henry.”
    I stepped quickly into apartamento uno, locking the door firmly and rushing to the window without so much as turning on the light. I wanted to get a good look at Hector with his damn wife before they got into the car. Would he open the door for her? Smile at her and wink for no reason like he did with me?
    But before I could get to the window, I heard Ellie’s wooden platform shoes on the stairway, so I rushed to open my door wide and surprise her in the middle of stealing out of her apartment to avoid paying her rent again.
    â€œJust the person I wanted to talk to,” I said.
    â€œI was coming down to talk to you myself.”
    â€œWho else would, if not ‘yourself,’ right?” I said, knowing the fact I’d just made fun of her had gone right past the fake designer jean-clad part of her body she used for listening and thinking. I’m not big on grammar, but Ellie’s sentences had always been a mystery to me. She’d end them with the word yeah , as in “so and so did this and that and then, so . . . yeah.”
    â€œJust so you know, I’m moving out sometime next week, so . . . yeah.”
    â€œEllie, we’ve been through this. Regardless of whether or not you move out, you’ve already used up your deposit. I need your rent money for this month now, before this month is over, and I need to make sure that the apartment’s in good shape before you leave, not after.”
    â€œAnd what are you going to do if I don’t have it? Evict me?”
    I took a deep belly breath.
    â€œIt’s not about that. It’s about you being responsible and leaving it the way you found it for someone else in this community to enjoy.”
    â€œOoooh mah-god! I’m sooo sick of you Coffee Park people with your ‘community honor’ and your karma rules. What is up with that?”
    â€œLook, Ellie, wherever you go, you’re going to have to pay rent. So I don’t care how many times you were dropped on your head when you were a baby. You’re going to pay your rent, got it?”
    â€œLook, lady, being my landlady doesn’t give you the right to threaten me, okay?”
    â€œEllie, don’t be stupid. Nobody’s threatening you.”
    â€œWho’re you calling stupid?”
    â€œI said, ‘Don’t be . . . stupid.’ ”
    â€œLook, I don’t have to take your bullshit, okay? People here might not know it, but I’m on to you.”
    â€œExcuse me?”
    â€œDamn right, excuse you. You’re one to talk, but you sure like dipping into ‘community resources,’ ” she said, making quotation marks in the air.
    â€œYou have something to say to me, Ellie?”
    â€œOh, I’ve said my piece,” she said, looking toward the stairs and raising her voice.
    â€œWell, the piece I want to hear is when you’re going to pay your rent and hand in your keys.”
    â€œWhen I get to it, got it?” she said, imitating my earlier response.
    I was so angry I could’ve dragged her up and down those stairs, forget I was no longer in middle school tackling girls who made fake scary noises and whispered things when I walked by, just ’cause I’d been stupid enough to believe they were my friends and told them I was clairvoyant. Or in high school, slapping the life out of anyone who dared to whisper anything about my mother. But I didn’t.
    â€œIs this the way you want to handle things, Ellie?” I said instead, steadily looking straight into her eyes to let her know I was a lot crazier than she’d ever be and didn’t care what she thought she knew, even as I realized that if Ellie knew, and that was a big “if,” Olivia might too. (Hence Hector trying to tamp down suspicions by taking her out?)
    She must’ve gotten the message, because she just said, “Screw you,” before